Saturday, December 10, 2005

Bad Week For Democrats

"Never give a sucker an even break" -- W.C. Fields

This hasn't been a good week for the Democrats. Democrat hack Ronnie Earle had one bogus charge thrown out in the Tom Delay case. John Kerry used an unfortunate choice of words in an interview on CBS's Sunday news program, Face the Nation. And Howard Dean opened his mouth and once again, inserted his foot.

In the Delay case, the Charge of conspiracy was thrown out because it was proven that the law that Earle claims Delay broke was not a law when the so-called "crime" occurred. Once the other charges go before a jury, they will be dismissed, too. Mr. Earle will have to find another Republican to harass.

John Kerry (Viet Nam war veteran) chose some unfortunate words when he said, "There is no reason, Bob, that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night terrorizing kids and children, you know, women, breaking sort of the customs of the -- of -- the historical customs, religious customs. ... Iraqis should be doing that."


Although the last thing I would want to do is defend Mr. Kerry, I believe in being fair, and in this case, I think it is only fair to point out that the only thing Kerry did this time, was to fail to clarify what exactly, he was trying to say.

This is how I see it: He was referring to the American soldiers going into houses searching for al-Qaida operatives, and disrupting the lives of the poor terrorist sympathizers who live in them. I am sure they have, on occasion, mistakingly entered the wrong houses and I can imagine that the innocents in those cases would indeed be frightened.

I think if there are women and children harboring terrorists, they don't have a complaint if a squad of soldiers invade their home. If they are innocent, they won't be harrassed, anyway.

Personally, it vexes me to hear Conservatives intentionally misinterpret what amounts to nothing more than an honest mistake on a Liberals part. There are so many intentional stupid remarks and lies they can point to without resorting to what is usually a Liberal tactic.

Still, he did say Iraqis should be the ones doing the terrorizing, didn't he?

What's even more outrageous is the fact that his spokesman didn't simply explain Kerry's intention the way I did, but instead launched an invective filled attack at those who reported it in an unfavorable light:

"Ken Mehlman's filthy and shameful lie about a decorated combat veteran is disgraceful. Political hack Ken Mehlman and draft-dodging doughnut-eating Rush Limbaugh have something in common. Neither of them know anything about how to make American troops safe".

So often, Democrats attack instead of admitting mistakes, which would have been easier and less offensive. Now, we are left wondering if maybe Kerry really meant what he said after all.

On the other hand, Howard Dean was just being typically (for him, at least) moronic, when he said:

""I wish the President had paid more attention to the history of Iraq before we had gotten in there. The idea that we're going to win this war is just plain wrong."

This is just another in a long litany of stupid statements he has made since he became Democratic Party Chairman. Would anyone like to take bets on when the Democrats finally jettison this human flotsam?

Here, again, instead of apologizing and/or at least owning up to the fact that he said something moronic (again), Chairman Dean's spokesmen went into full CYA mode by attempting to explain his statement away:

"Here we go again, the Republicans are cherry picking Governor Dean's words just like they cherry picked the pre-war intelligence."

By the way, even many Democrats are backing away this time. Some have said "he doesn't speak for them" and what he has said is "an embarrassment".

Here is what is really happening in Iraq instead of losing, as the Democrats would have us believe:

The Department of Defense reports that the citizens of Ramadi have turned in an al Qaeda terrorist known as "the Butcher of Ramadi." The townspeople brought him to an Iraqi and U.S. forces military base, where he was taken into custody. He was wanted for criminal activities including murder and kidnapping.

In one of his recent speeches, President Bush noted that the number of actionable intelligence tips received from Iraqi citizens is up about ten fold since earlier this year (from something like 400 per month to more than 4,000). This clearly is an important sign of progress, and the handing over by Iraqi citzens of "the Butcher of Ramadi" constitutes good anecdotal evidence of that progress
.

It seems that the Democrat leadership are the suckers, and Conservatives don't intend to give them an even break. And why should they? Democrats would certainly do the same if the roles were reversed.

18 comments:

Mark said...

Welcome back, Michael! I swear you go so long between postings I start to think you're either dead or gave up blogging.

Erudite Redneck said...

Re, "So often, Democrats attack instead of admitting mistakes, which would have been easier and less offensive. Now, we are left wondering if maybe Kerry really meant what he said after all."

Here, let me fix this for you:

"So often, Republicans attack instead of admitting mistakes, which would have been easier and less offensive. Now, we are left wondering if maybe Bush really meant what he said after all."

There.

Carry on.

Erudite Redneck said...

Oh, and what was it Howard Dean said that was so outrageous? This "war" will not be "won" in any sense that any of us know about, not in any of our lifetimes. The United States will have tropps in Iraq in the year 2055 if not longer.

Mark said...

Remaining in a country after we have defeated them is not a sign that we have lost the war. We are still in Germany and Japan and Korea, and VietNam, etc.

Howie's remarks, for one, will no doubt be used on the front page of al-Jezeera to embolden the terrorists and demoralize the American soldiers.

Fortunately for America, he has made so many outrageous statments that he has become irrelevant.

Mark said...

ER, If you can only find one thing in this unusually long post to correct, I am pleased.

I consider that a compliment coming from you.

Fritz said...

Mark,
The Democrats problem stems form insincerity. Tell the truth, Democrats are against the use of the United States military in any conflict before we win. The incoherent message stems from trying to play semantics with what message resonates with independent voters while feeding the base. I think we are witnessing a major change in the Democratic Party, a split from the Leftists, let them have their Ross Perot third party candidate. Joe Lieberman will be the Democratic nominee in 2008. Iraq is going to kill the Vietnam syndrome, and good riddance.

Mark said...

I disagree, Fritz. I don't see Lieberman being the Democratic csndidate for dog catcher unless he does a 180 before then.

Anonymous said...

Mark said,
"Remaining in a country after we have defeated them is not a sign that we have lost the war. We are still in Germany and Japan and Korea, and VietNam, etc."

Bases in Germany and Japan, Yes, there are.
Bases in North Korea, not yet, and we did not defeat them it was an armistice.
If you ment South Korea then yes, but we were thier ally.
Vietnam, not hardly, no United State bases there. Oh, yes, and as I remember so very well, they defeated us.
50% ain't bad.

Pamela Reece said...

Mark, it was indeed a bad week for the dems. What is even more unfortunate is that Howard Dean's words were heard by our troops. I don't think he would have the gumption to say these things in front of a group of service members. He will only say them in front of the left wing radicals where he feels all safe and cozy. I dare him to go visit Ft. Hood or Camp Pendelton and make that speech..uh..I hope he has body guards! Democrats should be ashamed of this man!

tugboatcapn said...

Let me fix it back for you, Mark.

"So often, Republicans are forced to defend themselves against attacks by Democrats instead of making progress, which would be easier and more productive. Now, we are left wondering if maybe all along the Democrats were the ones who were lying after all."

Now. There you go.

tugboatcapn said...

You have heard that the Democrats are having a series of "closed door meetings" over the next couple of weeks to determine what their position on the War is, haven't you?

Mark, did you have to meet with anyone to determine what your position on the war is?

Did you have to think about it?

Or did you just "know"?

There can only be one Right side on any issue.

Beware of people who have meetings to try to figure out a way to spin the Wrong side to make it sound right.

The Clinton policy of "How can we fool 'em today?" continues...

Francis Lynn said...

The Democrat leadership has become radicalized. They do not speak for the average Democrat, but they are the ones that get the sound bites. Their leadership is a shameful pack of sharks, looking to create blood in the water where there is none. They do not have the best interests of the country at heart, only what they think is the best interests of their party, or rather their power, which at the moment is in recession.

They do not have the courage of their convictions because they have no convictions. They operate soley on expediency. They are not the loyal opposition of days gone by. They are instead a disloyal disposition of whiners, cry babies & sore losers who will say anything in hopes that Bush will suffer, nevermind that the country or the success of the war in Iraq suffers too.

To be blunt, they are reprehensible leaders of their country & their party. If Iraq was their war, a different tune would be sung by these scoundrels. The country is ill served as long as they remain in their positions.

And by the way, to that one commentator - we were not defeated in Vietnam. Learn some history instead of reading off of some talking points rag.

The WordSmith from Nantucket said...

drlobojo said...


Bases in North Korea, not yet, and we did not defeat them it was an armistice.
If you ment South Korea then yes, but we were thier ally.


The objective of the Korean War was to protect and defend South Korea. In that, we were successful. Invading and conquering North Korea was never a mission objective.

There's a reason why Mark specified Japan and Germany when he spoke of "defeating them" and knows full well we didn't "defeat" South Korea, even though we have bases there. C'mon...

Anonymous said...

Dear 'The WordSmith from Nantucket' et. al.,
I'm just reading what Mark said and responding.
He said: "Remaining in a country after we have defeated them is not a sign that we have lost the war. We are still in Germany and Japan and Korea, and VietNam, etc."
I can only know what Mark thinks by reading what he says, the long distance (even close up) reading of minds is not one my best skills. He made a statement and then gave examples supporting the statement and I commented on them. Even if he mis-spoke on Korea, he was still mistaken about Vietnam. Although the results in Vietnam could have made his point in the negative, having lost the war there, we do not have a base in the country.

Anonymous said...

Francis Lynn
"And by the way, to that one commentator - we were not defeated in Vietnam. Learn some history instead of reading off of some talking points rag"

Fancinating statement.
If you mean they didn't out-kill us, you are right.
They didn't out gun us, that too.
If you mean we had them down and could have finished them of after the 1968 Tet Offensive, that's true too. If you mean they took over the country and defeated the South Vietnamese after we withdrew, then that's bullshit hyperbally. Unfortunately they did defeat us, by winning at the Peace table in Paris, giving us a cut and run stategy with a plausable denial attached, and outlasting us in the field.
My "talking points" rag kid, is my time in county with the Big Red One, in 1968-69. I was Regular Army son, a Lifer Puke of the first water. Some of us have lived it others ....well, what have you been reading.

Mark said...

Ah, but according to what you, yourself say, Dr. Joe Wolf, book learning always trumps hands-on experience, or is that only true when you need it to be?

Anonymous said...

I don't remember actually saying that Mark. You may be getting me mixed up with what you think ole ER says. I'm of the opinion that a balance of both is best. Sometimes the balance shifts towards one way or the other. For example, my remarks about the Paris Peace Talks obviously didn't come from me sitting at the (big round) table with Kissenger and the boys, where as the remarks about Tet did come from an on site involvement. Even then, reading about it latter did provide for more insight to what I had experience. I don't live in a binary world, I can't see too much as off/on, good/bad, black/white as some do.
Still he indicated that I got my info from a talking points rag and I simply set the record straight. Well,I maybe did gouge him just a little bit. but wasn't that what he was doing?
By the way, being a life long yellow dog Democrat I think I can say that the best discription of the Democratic Party came from Will Rogers way back in the 1930's.
He kind of agreed with what many have posted on your blog.
He said, "I don't belong to no organized political party. I'm a Democrat."
Been intersting Mark. I'll drop by again, soon.

Mark said...

I actually used that quote by Will Rogers on one of my earlier posts.